FORMER Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis was accused of racial discrimination by a long-serving official now fighting the club in an employment tribunal.

Ex-commercial manager Abdul Rashid pointed the finger at Mr Ellis, head of human resources Lisa Trotter and the club's board after his post disappeared in a shake-up of non-playing staff, the tribunal heard.

But Sam Neaman, for Villa, said the allegation, relating to a period before Randy Lerner took over, was totally untrue.

"The board did nothing other than accept the restructuring plans. Mrs Trotter had nothing to do with the restructure and neither did Mr Ellis," Mr Neaman said.

He said the race allegation was not specifically raised by Mr Rashid until January this year despite him leaving the club, where he worked for 28 years, in August 2005.

The three-man panel heard he withdrew applications for two newly created posts of head of business development and head of hospitality after his own role was made redundant.

And he haggled with the club over perks including tickets, healthcare benefits and even a Christmas turkey after leaving Villa, it was told.

He also held meetings with directors in which he threatened to go to the media with allegations about financial irregularities, although the club could not investigate because he would not provide more details.

Simon Pine, for Mr Rashid, told the hearing the restructure in which his client's job disappeared was a "sham" designed to get rid of him.

"The board thought he was inefficient and incapable of keeping abreast of developments," he said.

The tribunal also heard the vast majority of Villa's current senior management team were white.

But Mr Neaman described as "outlandish" Mr Rashid's assertion that his job disappeared because of his race.

And Mrs Trotter called Mr Rashid's allegations "hurtful".

"At no stage during the redundancy process did he ever suggest he was the victim of racial discrimination," she said.

"It seems absurd to say that, after 28 years, the club would remove his role on the grounds of race." The hear-ing could run for more than two weeks.